Adam Griggs and Owen Lightowlers were working at Andersen when it collapsed in the wake of widespread fraud and deception at Enron, which the firm audited.

Griggs, a former police officer and chartered accountant, said: ‘We want to be proactive in encouraging all businesses to bring their internal procedures up to scratch so that they adequately protect themselves and investors against corporate fraud and malpractice. We read about a new fraud almost every day, but many senior managers still believe that it could never happen to them. This myth must be dispelled before real progress can be made.’

The new service, called TheHotline, has also published a ‘whistleblowing policy review checklist’ to help organisations ensure they are correctly following revised practices on money laundering and fraud prevention.